Akhmedov had ‘concealed his assets in a web of offshore companies’ to avoid paying his former wife, the judge said.
Photograph: Rubberball/Mike Kemp/Getty Images

A Russian billionaire has not paid his ex-wife “one cent” of the £453m he was ordered to pay her following the breakdown of their marriage, a court in London has heard.

Mr Justice Haddon-Cave told the family division of the high court that Farkhad Akhmedov, a former oil and gas trader who made his fortune in the Russian energy business, was in contempt of court.

In December 2016 Haddon-Cave ordered Akhmedov, who is in his 60s, to pay Akhmedova, who is in her 40s, a 41.5% share of his £1bn-plus fortune.

“Not a cent has been paid to Ms Akhmedova,” Hodge Malek QC, who leads Akhmedova’s legal team, told the judge. “It is clear though that assets have been moved.”

Haddon-Cave said: “Mr Akhmedov in any event remains in contempt of this court. It is Ms Akhmedova who is prejudiced by the continued delay in this case.”

Akhmedova was at the hearing, but her ex-husband was not.

The judge criticised Akhmedov at an earlier hearing, saying it was apparent that he had taken “numerous elaborate steps” to hide his wealth and evade the enforcement of the judgment, including by “concealing his assets in a web of offshore companies”.

Haddon-Cave has heard how Akhmedova has been involved in litigation “around the world” in her attempts to lay claim to her former husband’s assets. He ordered one of Akhmedov’s former solicitors to make available documents relating to the businessman’s finances.

Solicitor Anthony Kerman complained of unfairness but failed in his attempts to persuade appeal court and supreme court justices to overturn the order.

Haddon-Cave was told on Thursday that Kerman had complied with the order and a number of documents had been given to Akhmedova’s lawyers.